GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 7

Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

I wonder why Noah was righteous. Is it because he sought God and did not yield to the ways of the world around him? Is it because he was a man who simply believed in God and believed the word God spoke to him? I believe that it is because He believed in God and walked with God even though he was surrounded by unbelief continually. This is what all of us must do. We do have to make a choice to choose to believe God or succumb to the thinking of the world around us.

2Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

We see here from this verse in Peter that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. A preacher warns those around him of judgment to come, of God's mercy if we repent, and warns against sin that will steal, kill and destroy our very souls for eternity

Webster's dictionary says the word righteousness is purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to divine law. Righteousness as used in scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion.

We see that it would include faithfulness to God's divine word. It is when we recognize that when God says something is wrong and we believe it enough to practice it by avoiding the sin and doing works of righteousness. When we recognize ourselves as sinners in need of God's righteousness that He provides through Jesus Christ, we can be clothed with His righteousness instead of trying to establish our own. Believing God and continually looking to Him for forgiveness and overcoming strength is the key to righteousness. If we say we believe in God and ignore all His commandments and His word, it cannot be true faith. Believing in something is to live by that something.

Genesis 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

We see here that even before the time of Moses, there was a law of some kind. They knew what beasts were clean and could be eaten and what beasts were not for eating.

Genesis 7:3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

They could not have taken in all the animals so they had to have a way to preserve each species.

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

This was like starting over. I'm sure God would have rather seen men repent and not have to have killed them off. At some point God has to stop sin. He can't allow evil to continue for eternity. Some believe because of the invasion of the fallen angels and their offspring the human race became corrupt and this made evil and violence even worse than it would have been had the human race not have been mingled with the fallen ones. The reason some do not buy into the theory that the godly race was from Seth and the fallen ones were the children of Cain was that; of both races only Noah and his family were righteous enough to be delivered from the flood to come. No matter which way one believes though evil had come to the point of no return and God had to say enough. This will happen again in the future but not with a flood as God later promises.

This was His way to curb violence and sin. It did start again shortly after the flood and He will only allow it to continue until Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom. Right now the kingdom of God is within each and every believer in Christ. His kingdom is not of this world. We can't set it up ahead of time, we have to wait on Christ. Many have tried to set up cities of God and kingdoms for Christ but men fail miserably. Only Jesus Himself will be able to do this. Our job is to preach the gospel.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He did not go around and try to use force to get people to live right. He preached. That is what we must do. We must preach the gospel but we cannot force people to accept it. Only God can save, we cannot. We are the vessels but the Holy Spirit does the changing.

Genesis 7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

When we obey God, it works to our good. Noah's obedience saved the whole human race from distinction.

Genesis 7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

Our godly influence will save our families sometimes. As we see later, not all of Noah's family was righteous. Yet the mercy of God saved his family because of Noah's faithfulness unless Ham was faithful to God before the flood but yielded to temptation a few years later. I discuss that in later chapters of Genesis.

Genesis 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

I believe God sent these animals to the ark. Noah didn't have to go out and hunt them up. They probably were at the age where they were like our pre-teens and not fully grown. This is my speculation and not exactly in the bible.

Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

The ark must have been a well built ark to have withstood all the violent flood and storms that probably occurred. Notice also that the rain did not start until all of them including the animals were safely in the ark and the door was closed.

The ark was a type of Christ at that time. The only way of salvation. It may be a kind of a rapture too. The godly escaping God's wrath this is poured out on an evil world. I have read views though that say that Enoch spoken of in previous chapters who was taken up to Heaven without dying, was a type of the rapture and Noah who was saved through the flood was a type of those God saves during His judgments. More examples would be when the plagues were sent upon Egypt and the Israelis escaped the plagues, the saving of the household of Rahab in the destruction of Jericho, and the sealing of the 144,000 from the different tribes of Israel that were faithful to God during the future great tribulation.

There are other examples too I'm sure. Another example mentioned in Revelation is when Israel escapes to a place where God hides them from the armies of the antichrist also during the tribulation period. Elijah going to Heaven in a chariot is another example of a rapture. Some believe Elijah will be returning though as one of the two witnesses that are killed during the future tribulation period and will rise again after three days.

Genesis 7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

The waters rose high above the tallest mountain. There was no escape. Unless one thinks God was cruel here, we must remember that Noah preached righteousness so the human race was warned before this happened. God always warns. He sends preachers to warn today. The message from God has always been repent and believe, repent and believe. The message from man has always been, I'm going to do it my way and ignore God's ways. Man continually chooses sin over God's way of righteousness.

Genesis 7:21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

I imagine their faith was tried during those days on the ark. Just like we who believe in Jesus Christ and make our decision to live for Him, are tempted and tried. I wonder if they sometimes feared that God had forgotten them and their food might run out. This fear is the biggest reason some try to do it themselves without waiting on God. Sometimes we can fear that God is far away and we are on our own. Unbelief is a constant temptation we face. We must continue to believe in the Lord's coming also. Here is what happens when we don't.

Matthew 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I believe this is what happened in the Roman church of the Middle ages. They thought the Lord delayed His coming and they tried to set up His kingdom by force instead of waiting on Him. Many were put to death and the true gospel was not preached.

I believe this also happened to the Protestant church which came later. This also will happen to any church that has left its first love. Whether that first love was Jesus Himself, love for one another or preaching the gospel. Forsaking any of those things will cause our religion to become false and vain. The devil don't care if we have religion, he just doesn't want our religion to save not only ourselves but also others from eternal death.

The gospel of Jesus Christ will save; religion will not save. The gospel is believing in the one God sent to save us, Jesus Christ. Believing means to believe to the point of partaking in His holiness and receiving His Holy Spirit into our lives. We must believe we are sinners in need of this salvation, be willing to turn from sin and turn to Jesus for salvation. We now follow Him and become like Him daily as we pray and study His word. Noah had to believe to have build an ark. As faith saved then, faith saves now and there is only one way, Jesus Christ. - DC

Genesis 8